BETHLEHEM - Hazleton Area was pinning a lot of hopes on its young threesome of Steve Longazel, Jimmy Hoffman and Chris Lasecki here at the Northeast Regional Class AAA wrestling tournament on Friday.

It turned into a mixed bag when all was said and done after the first sessions of wrestling were completed. Hoffman, Lasecki and Longazel all went 1-1.

Crestwood had its ups-and-downs as well here at Liberty High School, the host school for this region, with the top three wrestlers in each of the 14 weight classes moving on to next week of PIAA state championships at the Giant Center in Hershey,.

Danny Ritz opened with a win at 132, but Ty Robinson (195) and Dylan Miale (113) dropped their first match of the tournament, then bounced back with decision wins.

Stiff competition, mainly from a horde of District 11 grapplers who always seem to dominate and excel, threw up roadblocks at the local wrestlers, in their quest to finish in the top three.

Hoffman was at the top of his game to open the matches. He registered an impressive pin needing just 2 minutes and 56 seconds to flatten

Father Judge's Charles Wallace's shoulders to the mat.

Then the real challenge for Hoffman came against one of the state's top wrestlers in this weight class, Nazareth's Tyrone Klump (32-5). It was a battle that went the full distance before Klump pulled off a 3-1 win, scoring the winning points in the third period.

"Jimmy wrestled hard, but you have to realize that (Klump) finished third in the state last year," Hazleton Area coach Keith Maurer said. "He can come back; in fact I think he will do well. Jimmy has a lot of determination. So we will see."

It was scoreless through two periods then with Hoffman in the top position to open the final period, Klump found an escape route for the first point with 1:22 left in regulation. Then Klump recorded a takedown with 61 seconds to go.

Hoffman's only point came off a second stall warning on Klump with 37 seconds remaining in the match.

Lasecki, like Hoffman a freshman, kept his fire flickering in the consolation rounds. After his first loss, Lasecki found the right combination to score a 5-2 win over LaSalle's Mark Roundbehler, and gets a crack at another day of competition.

Longazel came within a whisker of an opening bout win, before dropping a one-point loss to Freedom's John Callahan (26-10). Callahan held on for a late 8-7 decision, sending Longazel into the wrestlebacks with Pocono Mountain East's Nick Price (29-10).

The sophomore Cougar had a tough go in his second bout with an elbow injury as he battled though pain with Price in garnering a gut-wrenching overtime 7-5 decision with a takedown with 11 seconds to go for the victory. In the regulation, Longazel held leads of 2-0, 5-3 before Price rallied to tie it and forced an overtime.

Meanwhile, it was also a tough outing for Crestwood's trio of Miale (113), Ritz (132) and Robinson (182). Ritz fell into the wrestlebacks after his opening bout 1-0 win over LaSalle's Andrew McLaren.

Ritz scored his point in the second period with an escape then rode out McLaren taking topside in the third. But the Crestwood junior (24-14) was stymied 3-2 in his second bout losing to Todd Hetrick of Northampton.

Ritz fell behind 2-0 after a Hetrick takedown, then tied the match with a takedown at the outset of the third period, working from the neutral stance, but near the close of the period, Hetrick escaped for the one-point win.

"Danny just had a tough break there," Crestwood coach Jay Konigus said. "(Hetrick) got loose then (managed) stayed away. Let's see what happens in the wrestlebacks, we're not out of it yet."

Miale was pinned to open his wrestling by Central's Jon Guevera at 2:54, and Robinson lost a heartbreaking decision to Patrick Pierson, as he came ever so close to upending the Stroudsburg wrestler with the one-point 6-5 defeat. Robinson ran out of gas after coming from a 6-1 deficit only to fail to get a key takedown as time expired. Robinson came back to stay alive in the consolation bout hanging a 5-2 loss on Father Judge's Tom Bayer.

Miale drew a bye into today's consolation round, 9:30 a.m. and has a daunting task of winning four matches for a third place finish and a trip to the state championships.

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